The International Hardened Criminals Detention Platform
After Luna and Mars, the third manned outpost in the solar system was the International Hardened Criminals Detention Platform, referred to in official documents by name or its acronym, the IHCDP. The Platform is on an undisclosed asteroid in distant orbit of Saturn. TRANSFER TO THE IHCDP To be eligible for transfer to the IHCDP, a criminal must be a three-time convicted felon of crimes demanding at least a five-year sentence, committed the crime of Capital Status Murder (killing someone with an income over 60,000 credits), or be convicted of any political crime. The convicting court may sentence a prisoner to the platform or the host government may order it in cases of conviction (in cases of political crime). Regardless of who orders the sentencing, if transferred to the IHCDP, it is an automatic life sentence with no parole. Convicts are allowed a single appearl that will be heard within thirty days, and if the appeal fails, transfer is carried out as soon as a military transport is available. Convicts have the option of refusing transport and being euthanized instead. NICKNAMES The Detention Platform is almost never referred to by name by any one other than bureaucrats. Not even print-journalists use its official name. Instead, the IHCDP has multiple nicknames, most with references to places on Earth or in that planet's history. #The Rock #Alcatraz #The Gulag Asteroid #Section 13 #Andersonville #New York (apparently in reference to an old style two-dimensional film) #Rural Pente (no one is sure of the reference at this point and the use of this term has fallen by the wayside) ARRIVAL Military transports are used to ensure no one escapes from the IHCDP. Prisoners (there have never been more than fifteen transported at a single time) are kept well guarded and any residents of the IHCDP who approach the landing site are immediately shot and killed Processing is simple: Prisoners are escorted to the primary airlock and put inside the asteroid. After that, the guards return to the ship and leave. There is no concern what goes on inside as far as the guards are concerned. INSIDE To save money, the WLN and its member nations (and corporations) leave the Platform unmanned by any security personnel, choosing to guard the asteroid with a single patrol ship. This means that whatever rules the prisoners come up with for living on the inside is what they live by. This means that fights often break out towards the end of calendar quarters when the quarterly supply ship arrives with food ( replacement parts for life support machines are also provided on an annual basis). Essentially, life on The Rock is Social Darwinism--kill or be killed, survival of the fittest. DETAINEES In any guven quarter, 8-15 detainees are brought to the IHCDP. The annual maximum transfer total was 53. The total number of prisoners transferred over the past fifteen years is 635, 535 males, 100 females. It is unknown how many individuals are within the asteroid at this time or if there are offspring of the inmates.